090217 Quick Notes on our Ice Hands.

Our ice hands work is an irreverent urban intervention that creates a modest and surreal moment in the city, both delighting the viewer by figuratively connecting human gestures while also celebrating the oft-perceived 'miserable cold day.'




Our first set of work used the hands in menial gestures sticking out of ordinary objects, either holding mittens, clapping hands or grabbing rope--each offered a 'moment' that subverted the 'seriousness' of the city and suggested a more relaxed, informal and surreal possibility to the city. These ice hands suggested a more narrative city than the one being offered, suggesting relationships between urban environments that are often taken for granted.








Our second set of work began to explore the communicative possibilities of, literally, hands. Using American Sign Language as a basis, we shaped the hands to offer delightful 'puzzles' in the city; that is, one would need to read the hands to read the message. This ranged from the simple message of 'L-O-V-E' around Valentines day, to more pun like possibilities as we signed 'C-H-I-L-L-I-N-G' on one wall and small poems: 'words lost in winter's deafening silence' on others.
The use of signing coupled with the ice hands provides a powerful interface and relationship on the transience of street art, language and the winter season itself.
We find the ice hands a successful series primarily because of their figurative relate-ability(?) to the viewer--that they connect on a human gestural scale.

090214 Observations of 'LOVE' in streetart

'Love' and the heart symbol seem to be an ubiquitous and universal symbol in street art- invariably in any city someone will either swish out a heart or quickly scribble 'love' on a wall. I find that interesting b/c of it's universal message and meaning--it is an entirely harmless critique yet powerfully simple--it's a message that everybody quickly understands and therefore becomes an acceptable street art message--no cop would ever chide anyone for scrawling that on a wall.

The subversive possibility, then, is to take that message and let it become a 'medium' in which to operate in; that is, the artist regardless of the 'message' behind the act works simply through associativity-- the artist becomes 'responsible' for the message.




The two examples we have been working on seem appropriate in this regard. By throwing out grass hearts or ice hands that spell 'L-O-V-E' the artist subverts the inherent symbolism and message of 'Love' and makes in an integral part of the artist's oeuvre. No longer is 'Love' simply another tag or message but becomes a critical theme that plays out in the artwork itself, the symbol becomes the dominant form of communication for the artist. The transient nature of the medium(grass and ice) is a critical move in this regard and plays well with the viewer intending to 'read' or 'interpret' the work itself(i.e: the viewer would make a connection about love not lasting forever as the work itself dies or melts...).